A world record was set for a work by Josef Šíma at the 92nd KODL Gallery auction. The monumental painting Earth was sold for 60.48 million crowns.
Josef Šíma's monumental work Earth from 1960 is the largest painting ever painted by the artist. It represents the culmination of the artist's second creative phase, which he began after a pause of several years in the 1950s. The monumentality of this canvas is not only a question of physical dimensions, but above all of the inner strength and depth of expression. It is characterized by the characteristic features of Šíma's post-war work - delicate colors, abstracted form and a deep metaphysical dimension. The painting saw a fivefold increase of the starting price and was sold for a new author's record of 60.48 million CZK.
Of the price achieved for the work, 3,000,000 CZK will be donated to support young artists and divided equally between the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava.
